Kerala Tourism bags Golden Gate Award at ITB-Berlin

Trivandrum: Kerala Tourism’s hugely popular global multimedia campaign to promote the backwaters has won the prestigious Golden Gate Award at the Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) 2015, the world’s leading travel trade event.

The State Tourism Department bagged the silver prize at the Das Golden Stadttor (Golden Gate) Awards presented in the German capital. Kerala Tourism Secretary, G Kamala Vardhana Rao, who is leading the State tourism delegation at the ITB 2015, and Suman Billa, Joint Secretary in the Union Tourism Ministry, received the prize at a glittering awards ceremony.

Kerala Tourism received the Golden Gate Award’s Silver Prize in the Mulimedia-campaign category. The award was presented for The Great Backwaters campaign in the television-commercial medium.

Conceptualised by Kerala Tourism’s creative and marketing agency Stark Communications, the Great Backwaters campaign had won the Golden Gate Gold Prize in the Print category at the ITB-Berlin last year. Earlier, Kerala Tourism had won the Golden Gate Silver Prize for the hugely successful ‘Your Moment is Waiting’ ad campaign in the print category.

The Great Backwaters campaign of Kerala Tourism was notable for its use of aerial photography for the first time in the country on such a wider scale, covering the state’s backwaters as a single destination. A renowned aerial photography team from Finland had conducted the photography using helicams launched from the makeshift platform of a boat to capture the beauty and essence of the vast backwaters.

Presented every year at the ITB-Berlin, Golden Gate Awards, dubbed the ‘Oscar in tourism communication’, are considered the ultimate recognition in global tourism communication. The awards, in its 14th year, provide worldwide attention to the tourism industry.

The awards are handed over to the tourism representatives and their creative works in different categories. The works are judged by an international jury based on a point system. Each category receives a gold, silver and bronze award. The award ceremony is held every year under the patronage of the German Federal Association of Film and Audio-Visual Producers.

“We are honoured by the remarkable recognition for the Great Backwaters Campaign at the world’s biggest travel trade event,” said Kerala Tourism Minister, Shri A P Anilkumar.